# Zuma fails to challenge ruling

An episode of [The Midday Report with Mandy Wiener](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1074292047), 14 Oct 2026, 4:45.

Audio: https://traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/5dcefa8e-00a9-4595-8ce1-a4ab0080f142/fe8d1a9a-a053-424d-9f40-a57500d5394b/9ea83a99-75d0-4596-8ad7-b4e300add4e5/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=18146681-7843-46cf-9a9c-a57500d59fe7

Mandy Wiener speaks to News 24 Legal Journalist, Karyn Maughn about Former President Jacob Zuma failing to challenge a ruling that forces him to face his trial in 2027. The Midday Report with Mandy Wiener is 702 and CapeTalk’s flagship news show, your hour of essential news radio. The show is podcasted every weekday, allowing you to catch up with a 60-minute weekday wrap of the day's main news. It's packed with fast-paced interviews with the day’s newsmakers, as well as those who can make sense of the news and explain what's happening in your world. All the interviews are podcasted for you to catch up and listen to. Thank you for listening to this podcast of The Midday Report Listen live on weekdays between 12:00 and 13:00 (SA Time) to The Midday Report broadcast on 702 https://buff.ly/gk3y0Kj and on CapeTalk https://buff.ly/NnFM3Nk For more from The Midday Report go to https://buff.ly/BTGmL9H and find all the catch-up podcasts here https://buff.ly/LcbDdFI Subscribe to the 702 and CapeTalk daily and weekly newsletters https://buff.ly/v5mfetc Follow us on social media: 702 on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TalkRadio702 702 on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@talkradio702 702 on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkradio702/ 702 on X: https://x.com/Radio702 702 on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@radio702 CapeTalk on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CapeTalk CapeTalk on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@capetalk CapeTalk on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ CapeTalk on X: https://x.com/CapeTalk CapeTalk on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CapeTalk567 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: It now appears that former President Jacob Zuma, who has
[0:04] Speaker 1: been in hospital for the past few days, is now
[0:07] Speaker 1: going to have to actually stand trial. We know that
[0:10] Speaker 1: he has brought various applications to try and prevent this
[0:14] Speaker 1: from actually happening over the years. And we know that
[0:18] Speaker 1: the prosecution has been trial ready for four years. But
[0:22] Speaker 1: now it seems as though former President Jacob Zuma has
[0:27] Speaker 1: dropped all of his appeals. So let's find out more
[0:30] Speaker 1: about this with Karen Moore, News24 legal journalist. Karen, good
[0:33] Speaker 1: afternoon to you. Thanks very much for your time. We
[0:37] Speaker 1: know that the high court judge in Cusinati, Chile, ruled
[0:40] Speaker 1: that the trial must proceed in February 2027, regardless of
[0:44] Speaker 1: any appeals that were lodged. That ruling hasn't been appealed,
[0:48] Speaker 1: and it seems that Zuma has dropped all of his
[0:50] Speaker 1: other appeals. So where are we now?
[0:53] Speaker 2: So what's remarkable, of course, in the wake of Chile's ruling,
[0:56] Speaker 2: which was as a direct result of the NPA's so-called
[0:59] Speaker 2: Stop Stalingrad application, which was unprecedented and extraordinary as implications
[1:04] Speaker 2: beyond itself. He, in the aftermath, his foundation came out
[1:08] Speaker 2: guns blazing, saying it was an erroneous ruling full of
[1:11] Speaker 2: legal and factual mistakes and, and, and, and there would
[1:14] Speaker 2: be an appeal. But that appeal, according to the NPA,
[1:17] Speaker 2: simply has not happened. And the NPA's position is, The
[1:21] Speaker 2: trial is going to start on, I think it's the
[1:23] Speaker 2: 1st of February, 2027, and we are fully prepared. There's
[1:27] Speaker 2: absolutely no legal barriers whatsoever because in addition to the
[1:33] Speaker 2: fact that Shelley said that any interlocutory application, regardless of that,
[1:37] Speaker 2: the trial will proceed, all those applications have now fallen
[1:42] Speaker 2: by the wayside.
[1:44] Speaker 1: So does this mean in February of next year, on
[1:46] Speaker 1: the 1st of February, when Jacob Zuma goes to court,
[1:49] Speaker 1: we could actually see evidence being led and witnesses actually
[1:53] Speaker 1: taking the stand?
[1:55] Speaker 2: Well, I know for a fact that the NPA team
[1:57] Speaker 2: that is leading that prosecution is going to Peter Maritzberg,
[2:01] Speaker 2: I think, next week to prepare for the trial. And
[2:04] Speaker 2: they have been preparing. They have all their witness evidence,
[2:07] Speaker 2: et cetera, et cetera. I think the big issue really, Mandy,
[2:10] Speaker 2: is the thing that you highlighted right at the beginning
[2:12] Speaker 2: of this interview, which is, of course, Jacob Seymour's health
[2:15] Speaker 2: and the questions over that. And we have seen scenarios
[2:18] Speaker 2: in the past in his trial, which unfortunately I ended
[2:21] Speaker 2: up facing a private prosecution over. was this issue of
[2:25] Speaker 2: his health potentially being leveraged as a mechanism for potential
[2:29] Speaker 2: postponement of that trial. But at this point, all that
[2:33] Speaker 2: litigation strategy, that so-called Stalingrad strategy, appears to be well
[2:39] Speaker 2: and truly over. And as I said before, that has
[2:43] Speaker 2: implications for that style of litigation in trials way beyond
[2:46] Speaker 2: just the Jacob Zuma prosecution.
[2:48] Speaker 1: We're also expecting, well, I don't know if we're expecting
[2:51] Speaker 1: is the right phrase here, but former President Zuma also
[2:54] Speaker 1: due to or scheduled to testify at the TRC inquiry
[2:59] Speaker 1: next week as well. What do we know about his health?
[3:01] Speaker 1: Because there have been some conflicting statements around this.
[3:05] Speaker 2: You know, there's always been a veil of secrecy over
[3:07] Speaker 2: Jacob Zuma's health. He has routinely used his health, and
[3:11] Speaker 2: you'll remember this was during the state capture inquiry yesterday.
[3:14] Speaker 2: his health became an issue where he said he was
[3:17] Speaker 2: unable to keep testifying and never returned. It's recurred in
[3:20] Speaker 2: his corruption case, and it's recurred in some degree in
[3:24] Speaker 2: his rape case, these issues of his health. So there
[3:27] Speaker 2: has always been a veil of secrecy. Some family members
[3:31] Speaker 2: appear to be articulating that the situation is serious, while
[3:35] Speaker 2: others have downplayed that. So we simply do not know.
[3:37] Speaker 2: It will really be, I think, as you rightly point out,
[3:41] Speaker 2: he is due before that TRC inquiry. And I think
[3:44] Speaker 2: it will be at that occasion that we get a
[3:46] Speaker 2: real sense of what his lawyers are prepared to divulge
[3:50] Speaker 2: in terms of his health and its implications for his
[3:53] Speaker 2: participation in that investigation.
[3:55] Speaker 1: Karen, thank you very much. Karen Moore, News24 legal journalist
[3:58] Speaker 1: speaking to us there. Well, what do you think? Do
[4:00] Speaker 1: you think that Jacob Zuma's corruption trial is actually going
[4:03] Speaker 1: to begin on the 1st of February? Do you think
[4:05] Speaker 1: he's going to appear before the TRC inquiry and give
[4:09] Speaker 1: evidence next week? We don't really know what's going on
[4:11] Speaker 1: with his health. There were reports yesterday that he had
[4:13] Speaker 1: been discharged from hospital, and then his foundation spokesperson described
[4:20] Speaker 1: that as fake news, but then said the reporting was fake,
[4:24] Speaker 1: but that doesn't mean that he hasn't been discharged. I
[4:27] Speaker 1: don't actually know what that means. But at this stage,
[4:29] Speaker 1: it looks as though he's been discharged, but that's unconfirmed.
[4:33] Speaker 1: So what do you think about that on the WhatsApp line? Mandy,
[4:37] Speaker 1: Zuma's only dropping his appeals because he's now sick. Next week,
[4:40] Speaker 1: he'll be filing a medically unfit motion to have the
[4:42] Speaker 1: case dropped. Yeah, let's see what happens.

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